Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close

Five albums from Joe Satriani – picked seemingly at random but not unappealingly – are collected on this budget-priced 2013 box set. The albums here – Surfing with the Alien, Engines of Creation, Strange Beautiful Music, Is There Love in Space?, Super Colossal – arguably showcase Satriani at his best, even if they don't focus on any particular time. Nevertheless, by bypassing his AOR crossover attempts of the early '90s, this winds up showcasing Satch's shredding at its purest and it's enjoyable and worthwhile at that level.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close

Surfing with the Alien belongs to its era like Are You Experienced? belongs to its own – perhaps it doesn't transcend its time the way the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 debut does, but Joe Satriani's 1987 breakthrough can be seen as the gold standard for guitar playing of the mid- to late '80s, an album that captures everything that was good about the glory days of shred. Certainly, Satriani was unique among his peers in that his playing was so fluid that his technical skills never seemed like showboating – something that was somewhat true of his 1986 debut, Not of This Earth, but on Surfing with the Alien he married this dexterity to a true sense of melodic songcraft, a gift that helped him be that rare thing: a guitar virtuoso who ordinary listeners enjoyed. Nowhere is this more true than on "Always with Me, Always with You," a genuine ballad – not beefed up with muscular power chords but rather sighing gently with its melody – but this knack was also evident on the ZZ Top homage "Satch Boogie" and the title track itself, both of which turned into rock radio hits. This melodic facility, plus his fondness for a good old-fashioned three-chord rock, separated Satriani from his shredding peers in 1987, many of whom were quite literally his students. But he was no throwback: he equaled his former students Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett in sweep picking and fretboard acrobatics and he had a sparkling, spacy quality to some of his songs – particularly the closing stretch of the Middle Eastern-flavored "Lords of Karma," the twinkling "Midnight," and "Echo" – that was thoroughly modern for 1987. The production of Surfing with the Alien is also thoroughly of its year – stiff drumbeats, sparkling productions – so much so that it can seem a bit like a relic from another era, but it's fine that it doesn't transcend its time: it captures the best of its era and is still impressive in that regard.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close

With Crystal Planet, Joe Satriani made an effective return to his signature sound following the erratic blues-rock detour of Joe Satriani. For the follow-up to Crystal Planet, Satriani is once again exploring novel territory in an effort to keep his music fresh, and Engines of Creation is the biggest stylistic shift he's made yet – to electronic music. Satriani's guitar is still the focal point of the music, to be sure, but while his virtuosity is obvious, it's often submerged in the new demands of this musical idiom. That isn't a surprise either, given that Satriani is one of the few guitar shredders whose taste and musicality have never been in question. But fans who simply want to hear him rip through his typical jaw-dropping solos may be disappointed (even though, in the end, there are more than a few solos), as will those guitar fans who reflexively disdain all sounds electronic. Having defended it, though, Engines of Creation isn't a total success. While the music is certainly influenced by techno and electronica, it probably won't appeal to listeners coming from those arenas; overall, it simply isn't as adventurous as much genuine electronica, avoiding complex backing rhythms or edgy sonic textures; nor is it as hypnotic, meandering or drifting aimlessly at times instead of moving into trancelike states of consciousness. Plus, Satriani's songs are often more traditional than they may seem upon first listen; many of the compositions are based on repeated themes and riffs and standard rock-song structures, switching between recurring, identifiable sections rather than gradually building and unfolding. However, the album can also be quite inventive. Satriani has challenged himself to find ways of coaxing totally new sounds from his guitar, and he weaves them seamlessly into the futuristic electronic soundscapes. Moreover, his melodies and main themes have rarely been this angular and off-kilter, meaning that exploring this music has indeed helped Satriani refresh and re-imagine his signature sound. Even the pieces that aren't ultimately that revolutionary are still intriguing, since very few musicians have the technical training and innate sense of musicality required to mine this territory. Overall, Engines of Creation is a brave and sporadically successful experiment, and it's also a promising new direction for Satriani should he choose to continue this vein of exploration and take it out even farther.

by Steve Huey, AMG

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close

What's a guitar hero to do now that the masses prefer electronic beats and rap-metal to killer scale runs? Joe Satriani seeks that answer on Strange Beautiful Music. Satriani set himself apart from other would-be kings of the six-string in the 1980s by combining impeccable technique with great feel and pop hooks. With those qualities, he produced great guitar-driven albums like Surfing With the Alien and Flying in a Blue Dream. On his 2002 release, Satriani tries to make his music fresh by incorporating world music influences and a bit of techno flava. To his credit, he succeeds more than he fails. "Belly Dancer" combines straight-up rock riffs with Middle Eastern-twinged melodies and faster-than-sound runs up and down the fretboard. On "Oriental Melody," Satch's world music sensibility shines with the help of ping-pong delay and keyboards. He still has a knack for great hooks, too, as is evident on "New Last Jam," which features a melody that bounces around in your head for days. But none of these tracks approach the pop brilliance of his Surfing With the Alien songs. In many ways, the experimental nature of songs like "What Breaks a Heart" hark back to his Not of This Earth release. But Strange Beautiful Music suffers from inconsistency. While the mix-and-match approach works on "Belly Dancer," it can also result in the bland discontinuity of "Chords of Life," which at times sounds like "All Along the Watchtower" and at others resembles scale and chord exercises from Yngwie Malmsteen – not an enticing combo. And "Starry Night," while a nice ballad, feels like an attempt to rewrite his masterful ballad "Always With You, Always With Me."

by Mike Gowan, AMG

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close

Guitar boss Joe Satriani's ninth album reflects the terrain he's traveled more than it points to an unexplored one – and yes, that does prove to be a good thing. Satriani has explored many directions over eight previous albums, mashing together rock, blues, jazz, and pure technical proficiency in a dizzying blend that bears his unique signature. Is There Love in Space? recalls two distinct projects from his catalog, the groundbreaking Surfing With the Alien and the exotic Strange Beautiful Music. From the former is the driven, balls-out, tough blues-and-hard rock riffs and hooks, while from the latter are involved and sometimes intricate melodies and Eastern-tinged modes – though none of the electronica. Satriani's sense of writing catchy turnarounds and hooks is ubiquitous here, and though he uses keyboards, they are never employed as more than devices to further along the framework of a particular tune. Even the vocal cuts here work well, "Lifestyle" with its roosty rock & roll vocal, boogie on methamphetamine whir, and bombastic power chords is a great choice for a single, as is the stomping, metallic "Hands in the Air," which updates Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" riff in extremis. The mid-tempo tunes, such as the wah-wah-phased title track and the shimmering "If I Could Fly," are nice changes of pace too. The funky future blues of "I Like the Rain" features a slightly annoying vocal, but in its ZZ Top-fueled desert boogie, it hardly matters. The masterpiece on the set is "Searching," however. It's slow- to mid-tempo stride and minor key cadence pushed to the limit by the razor-wired and feedback aesthetic of its ten-minute sprawling excess. While guitar hero records are anything but cool in the new century, this guitar hero offers one cool little record.

by Thom Jurek, AMG

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close

The most frightening thing about "Super Colossal" is that it starts off sounding horrifically similar to the chorus of Billy Squier's "The Stroke." Thankfully, this is remedied immediately, and Satch returns to familiar territory. The sound of the title track is big and booming, but the tone and delivery are instantly recognizable. Satriani doesn't pull any new tricks out of his bag, but lets his fingers do the talking throughout most of the record. And, of course, it wouldn't be a Satriani record without a few midtempo numbers thrown in for good measure, and "It's So Good" certainly delivers a swaggering punch that is reminiscent of not only Flying in a Blue Dream but moments of protégé Steve Vai's epic album Passion and Warfare. There are moments of delicate frailty and instrumentals with a romantic and optimistic feeling, tempering the high-energy blues-driven guitar shredders and leaving Super Colossal with a nice sense of balance – except for the album's finish. "Crowd Chant" is arguably one of the weirdest moments in a career full of eccentricity, but it's painfully out of place. However, with its catchy melody and call-and-response verses, it's going to make one heck of a concert singalong. On the whole, Satriani really doesn't push boundaries or stretch his guitar vocabulary too much here, but even on his worst day his productions could best any other shredder du jour based simply on the fact that he crafts songs rather than insipid guitar-scale exercises to flaunt and flail around carelessly.

by Rob Theakston, AMG

×

Original Album Classics: Joe Satriani (2013)

Close